TSA pulls the plug on 'peepshow' scanners

The "peepshow" scanners that have caused an uproar at airports are finally getting the heave-ho.

It took more than two years of passenger complaints, but the Transportation Security Administration says it is pulling the plug on the Rapiscan backscatter scanner. The move was made because the manufacturer did not meet a deadline to come up with new software that would create less revealing images. In all, 174 machines at 30 airports will be shut down and moved out.

The machines, introduced in 2010, look like two large metallic bookcases. Travelers are instructed to step between them and put their hands over their head ("Like a cheerleader, give me an O!" is a common joke) and hold still while a scanner takes an image of your body.

Meant to find metallic objects like guns and synthetic items like plastic explosives, the machines were rejected by much of the traveling public because of the explicitly detailed image that they created for TSA officers to see. The security agency wrestled with the backlash, ensuring that the monitor images could only be seen in a secure room and that the images could not be saved or disseminated. Young children were exempted from the machines.

But that didn't satisfy many passengers, who chose to opt out of the machines, which would require a body search by TSA staff – a method that generated its own set of complaints. The machines, meant to speed up security lines, often had the opposite effect. Complaints piled in to Congress, which ordered that the machines be fixed or removed by June.

One of two companies, L-3 Communications, was able to come up with new software for its millimeter wave machines. These now show a cartoon-like outline of a body. The L-3 machines are the ones that look like a large glass tube. The Associated Press reported that the TSA has 669 of these machines and plans to buy another 60.

But Rapiscan could not create new software for its backscatter machines and threw in the towel this month. The TSA canceled its contract with the company.

I've noticed in recent months that the machines were often not in use or had disappeared. Back were those standard metal detectors. Sure enough, the TSA confirmed in the fall that the backscatter machines had been shut down at seven major airports, including Los Angeles International Airport. That move will now be expanded to the rest of the country's airports.

John Wayne Airport has never used the Rapiscan machines, so there is no changes contemplated to the security systems there, according to airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge.

So, the good news is these peepshow machines are being pulled from airports. But that doesn't mean you won't run into them now and again.

The 250 Rapiscan machines the TSA owns will not be junked but transferred to other, as yet undetermined, federal agencies. They will be installed for use in security screening where the tradeoff between privacy and security isn't as much of an issue. If you are visiting a military base, prison or other federal facility, you might still have to "give an O" to get through.